Boychuk Leaves his Mark on Islanders

The way Johnny Boychuk played the game left a mark.
Boychuk's second-last NHL game was emblematic of that and by extension his character and career. After missing a month-and-a-half of the playoffs, Boychuk returned for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final, bringing some veteran leadership to a team trying to keep its season alive

His door prize was a Nikita Kucherov one-timer to the stomach, but the 36-year-old gutted through the pain and kept playing. Later in the period he blocked another shot that knocked his skate blade clean off and he needed to be

by Semyon Varlamov. Those two plays revealed two things about Boychuk; how much he was willing to sacrifice for his teammates and how much they loved him for it.
Boychuk's Islanders career is filled with moments like that. Last season he played a minute-and-a-half without a stick in an October win over St. Louis, pushing, shoving and battling in front of the net before ultimately kicking the puck down to the Blues' zone. He was dropped by a Justin Faulk shot off the ankle in the process, but got right back up. Need someone to

to block a shot. Johnny Boychuk is your man.

"Sometimes it doesn't look pretty, but at the end of the day how many people could you imagine battle as hard?" Head Coach Barry Trotz said of Boychuk in November. "How many people are committed at blocking shots? How many people give you every ounce of what they have to get something done? It doesn't always look pretty, but it gets something done."
He played a hard-nosed game, but had a lot of fun doing it. He gave finger-guns after scoring a trademark slapper from the point vs Carolina last season, gave out the chef's kiss for pretty goals a handful of times, did the Yes! Yes! Yes! celebration and almost seemed to enjoy the
odor of smelling salts
. He was simultaneously the oldest person and youngest soul in the Isles locker room, teasing teammates during interviews, chirping back-and-forth and generally keeping things light. Jordan Eberle once dared Boychuk, who is afraid of heights, that he wouldn't go up in a cherry picker during a tour of the Westbury Fire Department. Naturally, he did.
Boychuk's always been a team-first guy and bonding agent in the locker room. Boychuk bought the Islanders leather jacket that became the team's player of the game token in 2015-16. He pooled money from the team directly to buy 300 tickets for military members to attend the Isles Military Appreciation Night, a team tradition that still endures. He was a mentor to Noah Dobson, driving him to practices and games for half a season before the young blueliner bought a car. He made sure to collect the puck for Cole Bardreau's first NHL goal. In 2017, the Boychuk family bought 100 Thanksgiving dinners to families in need and continues to pay for Thanksgiving dinners to this day, leading by example in how to make a difference in the community.

As good a person as he was, Isles fans will remember him most for his impact on the ice.
Boychuk arrived in 2014 in a trade with the Boston Bruins and helped remake the Islanders blue line almost instantly alongside Nick Leddy, who was acquired from Chicago on the same day. Boychuk scored the Isles' first goal of the 2014-15 season and assisted on the next two, a quick start to a season career-high 35 points. Boychuk and the Islanders came together at the right time, as a new team allowed the defenseman to expand his role and impact, while the Isles acquired a Stanley Cup champion who could help shepherd a rebuilding team to the playoff consistently.
Three different coaches all described his game the same way, "old school." Boychuk's game was built on a big slapshot - crafted from a childhood of being locked out of the house until he shot 100 pucks - big hits, blocked shots and being a force in front of his net. He earned the nickname "Johnny Rocket" with his bomb from the point, taking a team-high 568 clappers (fifth in the NHL) since 2014-15. Unsurprisingly, 27 of his 35 goals as an Islander were preceded by a big windup.

During an emotional press conference on Wednesday, Boychuk was asked how he wanted to be remembered.
"A tough player to play against, to battle through anything and I did," Boychuk said. "To be known off the ice as a good person and a good guy and to be on the ice against me to be hard to play against."
In the end,
it was an eye injury that led to the end of Boychuk's career
, as opposed to Father Time. A close call with a skate blade will leave the physical mark on Boychuk, but the mark he left on the Islanders, Long Island and NHL is so much bigger.